The only record of an order in database is in the orders_status_history - which has a zero orders_id. However the orders_id should have been 950 (from paypal - the order number is the Invoice ID logged in the paypal record on paypal).

I've attached relevant extract from the server logs - no errors were logged in the server error logs.

Any help on this much appreciated - as I'm stuck here - I beleive we may have exposed a bug....

Thanks Sara, just a quick scan of the referenced topic - the problem with facebook does not appear to be related (i have facebook links - which are fine - but FB is not good at picking up the photos in osC.)

Subsequent orders have been okay - so whatever caused it was transient - and I think customer caused (just a hunch by looking at the number of logins / password resets etc during the order process).

I have requested a little info from the customer to see if they had any errors or noticed a problem (how embarassing).

My hunch is that they had two browser sessions open and were switching between the two - but I cant tell from the server audit trial if that hunch is correct (ps. my site is setup to use sessions in DB rather than cookies).

Ok - I can see why the problem occurs - PROBLEM = order is processed without an order record:

1. Customer enters shop at 07:51:58 and after creating their account creates the order record at 08:08:21. The record is then deleted at 08:08:44 when they logoff.

2. Customer then logs in again at 08:09:08 and creates a new order record at 08:10:41

3. The "BUG / Feature" is introduced at 08:11:10 - here the customer comes in with another checkout_payment.php - which has come in from a checkout_shipping.php. That would have trashed the order record again (I think - can someone confirm this).

This command can only have been run from a separate browser session (I dont think the customer could use the the browser navigation back button a couple of times or they wouldn't be able to continue with payment at paypal).

4. In the meantime the customer has continued with the order payment at paypal, having trashed the order record.

Mmmmm - how to fix this one - maybe an order record lock - to prevent multiple sessions causing confusions - or is this already handled. Need a developer now to answer how the sessions dadatabse handles multiple sessions.